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Monday, April 23, 2012

The Chettinad region in
Tamil Nadu is considered the hometown of the Chettiar community,
renowned for its business acumen and historical trade links across
South East Asia. It is here that the seeds of a cultural revival have
been sown by Visalakshi Ramaswamy and her M. Rm. Rm. Cultural
Foundation.

When Visalakshi
Ramaswamy set out to co-author a book called The Chettiar Heritage
along with S. Muthiah and Meenakshi Meyappan, she found that the very
heritage they were trying to document and photograph, was
disappearing at a shocking rate. Traditional buildings were being
razed to the ground or transformed beyond recognition. Craftspersons
were giving up their skills to move on to better paying occupations
or relocating to cities.

In the year 2000,
Visalakshi Ramaswamy began the M. Rm. Rm. Cultural Foundation to
ensure that these craftspersons from the Chettinad region were
provided a steady income hoping that this would, in turn, infuse new
life into those languishing traditions. The Foundation hopes to
preserve the past by extensively documenting these traditions and
hopes to also create future demand by roping in professionals and
design students to contemporise the colours and design of the
products.

In order to be a
self-sustaining venture, the Foundation began work with the Kandaghi
saree. The Kandanghi was traditionally woven as a thick drape, to be
worn without a blouse or anin-skirt,
and pleated at the back. The Foundation sourced old sarees from
friends and family and then began the process of creating a design
directory. The Foundation worked closely with weavers, even putting
them on a payroll, to produce a more urban version, considerably
lighter, and lending itself well to the contemporary saree wearing
style. There is even a Kandanghi saree variety with a cotton body and
a rich silk border, making it a comfortable alternative to all-silk
sarees.

The Foundation is now
reviving the Kottan palm leaf baskets, traditionally used for
ritualistic purposes, and now repositioned as elegant gift boxes for
weddings and Diwali. The Foundation coordinates with one local leader
and about 5 groups of basket weavers. For every basket, a sequence of
colour codes is communicated to the weaver who is able to reproduce
this sequence in actual product. Every finished basket also has a tag
with the weaver's name on it, to ensure accountability and maintain
quality. Today, at least 100 of the 150 families that are into Kottan
basketry, earn about Rs. 5000 a month.

Traditional Chettiar
architecture makes use of the unique egg-lime wall plastering
technique and handmade Athangudi floor tiles with floral and
geometric patterns. The Foundation seeks to revive these crafts too,
by documenting as well as creating enough demand for the
craftsperson's skills.Ramu was one
such craftsperson who now has one full-fledged Athangudi tile factory
and is already setting up one more. A
recent innovation is the use of wall stencils to create
stenciled wooden ceiling panels that can be installed easily and
dismantled to be moved elsewhere if required.

Visalakshmi Ramaswamy
believes that marketing these products is not as much a challenge as
ensuring craftspersons receive enough orders month on month to
sustain their families and provide for their childrens' education.
She hopes that through the Foundation, craftspersons will also gain
the respect they truly deserve for their skills.

The products created by
the M. Rm. Rm. Foundation are retailed through its store in Chennai,
Manjal, named after the auspicious turmeric root.